Category: United Kingdom

ENLARGE Oil exploration companies, such as Tullow Oil, don’t have other parts of their business to fall back on when oil prices fall. Bloomberg News LONDON— Tullow Oil PLC Thursday said it was making its largest ever write off of $2.7 billion before tax, mostly resulting from unsuccessful exploration programs and the drop in value of licenses, discoveries and assets resulting from the plunge in oil prices . The write offs include a decrease in value of $600 million across all of Tullow’s assets, including producing oil fields, oil in the ground and equipment. They also include $1.2 billion related to discoveries in previous years that now have no prospect of commercialization amid the weaker oil prices and unsuccessful exploration drilling. The price of oil has more than halved in the past six months, hitting the exploration and production sector hard. Unlike the major oil companies BP PLC and […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

ENLARGE BP’s Valhall redevelopment project in the North Sea. The company intends to cut 300 jobs in the area as part of a shake-out brought about by the slide in oil prices. European Pressphoto Agency LONDON— BP PLC said Thursday that it would lay off about 300 people in the North Sea hub of Aberdeen, Scotland, in the biggest sign yet of the problems besetting the U.K.’s primary oil-producing region. While the world-wide slide in the price of oil has focused attention on the U.S.’s relatively new shale fields—which are partially responsible for the global oil glut—it is the mature, high-cost fields such as those in the North Sea that seem likely to suffer most. At prices much below $75 a barrel or so, some of the North Sea’s reserves might be too expensive to develop. BP said Thursday that it is still committed to the region, and that […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

ENLARGE Thursday’s decision narrows the range of penalties BP could face. Bloomberg News A federal judge ruled Thursday that BP PLC is liable for spilling just over 3 million barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, 24% less than federal prosecutors had claimed. The ruling means that BP faces a maximum penalty of $13.7 billion under the U.S. Clean Water Act, down from the $18 billion sought by the Justice Department. The decision by Judge Carl Barbier surprised analysts following the case, coming days before BP is set to appear in his court for a related trial on how much it should pay for each barrel spilled. That tranche of the complex case, which begins on Tuesday, will determine the total fine under the Clean Water Act. Thursday’s decision narrows the range of penalties BP could face, which could make a settlement […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

LONDON (AP) — BP has announced it will cut an estimated 200 staff jobs and another 100 contracting jobs in light of falling oil prices. The company said Thursday the cuts will be made in onshore roles, not in offshore operational positions. Regional president Trevor Garlick said BP remains committed to its North Sea operations but needs to take "specific steps" given the challenging economic environment. He cited toughening market conditions as a reason for the cuts. Union officials fear other oil-related jobs will be cut by other firms soon as prices continue to soften. The price for the benchmark U.S. crude oil is down about 41 percent in the past three months amid oversupply.

Click here to view full article at hosted.ap.org

ENLARGE Oil exploration companies, such as Tullow Oil, don’t have other parts of their business to fall back on when oil prices fall. Bloomberg News LONDON— Tullow Oil PLC Thursday said it was making its largest ever write off of $2.7 billion before tax, mostly resulting from unsuccessful exploration programs and the drop in value of licenses, discoveries and assets resulting from the plunge in oil prices . The write offs include a decrease in value of $600 million across all of Tullow’s assets, including producing oil fields, oil in the ground and equipment. They also include $1.2 billion related to discoveries in previous years that now have no prospect of commercialization amid the weaker oil prices and unsuccessful exploration drilling. The price of oil has more than halved in the past six months, hitting the exploration and production sector hard. Unlike the major oil companies BP PLC and […]

Click here to view full article at www.wsj.com

Anchor handling of Semi submergible in North Sea BP has told staff in Aberdeen it is cutting 300 jobs in its North Sea business, under a wide-ranging cost-cutting plan announced in December. The UK-based oil major has outlined plans to cut the roles from its 3,500-strong North Sea business, based in Scotland, over the course of 2015. More On this story On this topic IN Oil & Gas The cuts include 200 onshore staff directly employed by BP and 100 contractors. Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP North Sea, said: “We are committed to the North Sea and see a long term future for our business here. However, given the well-documented challenges of operating in this maturing region and in toughening market conditions, we are taking specific steps to ensure our business remains competitive and robust, and we are aligning with the wider industry.” “Whilst our primary focus will […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

Low prices of oil starting to reflect trends in the global economy. (UPI/Shutterstock/Lilac Mountain) The price for Brent, the crude oil benchmark based on North Sea blends, was off close to 3 percent from the previous session to trade near the $46 per barrel mark, the second consecutive day below $50 per barrel and a 5 1/2-year low. Oil prices are off more than half their June value, falling as markets swing to the supply side in a weakened global economy. The British economy became the latest to show signs of a slowdown. The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday consumer price inflation in December was down 0.5 percent and 1 percent for November, some of the lowest rates on record . British economic data mirrors developments emerging elsewhere in the region. Inflation in an already struggling eurozone turned negative in December, driven in large part by falling energy […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Low oil prices means the future of North Sea oil and gas is uncertain, Wood Mackenzie finds. File Photo by Casey J. Ranel/UPI LONDON, Jan. 12 (UPI) — Low oil prices are a growing cause for concern in the exploration and production sector of the North Sea, analysis published Monday by Wood Mackenzie finds. The analytical group said the region brought in $19 billion in capital spending last year, making the British North Sea sector one of the top 10 for upstream spending. With oil prices falling more than 50 percent since June, data show exploration and production activity was slowing down . Erin Moffat, a senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said exploration activity in 2014 was off 18 percent from the previous year. Only four fields were brought online. "The current oil price means 2015 will unsurprisingly bring further budget cuts, with exploration spending at the top […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

A BP oil and gas platform in the British North Sea Oil prices are on course for their largest annual slide since 2008, capping another dire year for commodities, as crude fell again on Tuesday to hover at close to half its level of six months ago. Brent’s 49 per cent plummet since June — alongside a near halving of iron ore prices and sharp drops in coal and copper — has also helped drag the Bloomberg Commodity index down 15.6 per cent in 2014 to a five-year low. While the international benchmark’s price plunge could prove a significant boon for the global economy, it has thrown big oil exporters such as Russia and Venezuela into disarray, and forced oil companies to re-examine their investment plans and look for ways to reduce costs. In a sign of how the oil majors are scrambling to make savings, BP , Royal […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

Oil companies working in the British seas may face tight purse strings in current bear market for crude oil, analysis finds. (Photo: BP p.l.c.) Brent, the global price benchmark based on oil blends taken from the North Sea, is trading near the $60 per barrel mark, far below the price for the June contract. Ewan Mitch, lead analyst at British firm Company Watch, said the bear market is putting a strain on the pocketbooks of many regional companies. "The recent large falls in the price of oil and gas could leave the weaker companies in difficulties, especially the ones that need to raise funds to keep exploring," he said in the report. The price for Brent is approaching the point at which companies might not be able to generate a profit. British energy company BP said it could cope with an oil price as low as $60 per barrel, […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

North Sea oil industry close to collapse thumbnail The UK’s oil industry is in “crisis” as prices drop, a senior industry leader has told the BBC. Oil companies and service providers are cutting staff and investment to save money. Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex, told the BBC that the industry was “close to collapse”. Almost no new projects in the North Sea are profitable with oil below $60 a barrel, he claims. ‘Everyone is retreating’ “It’s almost impossible to make money at these oil prices”, Mr Allan, who is a director of Premier Oil in addition to chairing Brindex, told the BBC. “It’s a huge crisis.” “This has happened before, and the industry adapts, but the adaptation is one of slashing people, slashing projects and reducing costs wherever possible, and that’s painful for our staff, painful for companies and painful for the country. “It’s close […]

Click here to view full article at peakoil.com

BP filling station If energy is turning into a game of shrink to survive, BP is ahead of its rivals. The tens of billions of dollars in disposals — including rigs, platforms and pipelines — that followed the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 have reshaped the oil and gas giant. Its “value over volume” mantra, pursued relentlessly by chief executive Bob Dudley, has become a byword for the majors’ efforts to curb costs, strengthen balance sheets and position themselves for a tougher, leaner world of lower oil prices . So much so, that even as the company moves to cut costs further in the face of a brutal 40 per cent slide in crude prices since June, a more profound question is being asked of BP. Sure, investors can see the benefits of capital discipline, but where are the discoveries that will power growth and keep […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

LONDON—British Gas, the retail arm of utility Centrica PLC, was Thursday fined £11.1 million ($17.4 million) by the U.K.’s energy regulator for failing to meet certain environmental targets. The fine stems from investigation conduced by the regulator, Ofgem, that found the company had failed to meet environmental obligations under the Community Energy Savings Program and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target by a 2012 deadline. Under CESP, British Gas only reached 62.4% of its energy-saving obligations by the end of December 2012. This meant around 6,750 households in low-income areas experienced delays in energy-saving measures such as insulation that could have helped lower bills during the winter of 2012-13. The CERT program required certain gas and electricity suppliers to achieve targets for reducing carbon emissions within domestic properties. British Gas failed to meet its target on time, achieving 99% of its obligation. Until the shortfall was made up seven weeks later, […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

The U.K. oil industry, after chafing at suggestions it’s subsidized by the state, wants Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to help save it from the market’s crashing prices. Osborne’s Autumn statement tomorrow, setting out tax and spending policies, is a chance for the more than 500 companies represented by Britain’s oil lobby to press for what it says is a fairer deal. In a letter sent to the chancellor last month, Oil & Gas UK said the collapse in prices comes on top of a 26 percent jump in unit costs for the industry last year alone. “Expect news on how the government will look to shore up investment in the North Sea,” said Sanjeev Bahl, Numis Securities Ltd.’s director of oil and gas equity research. Britain has suffered the steepest drop in output of any major producer since supply peaked 15 years ago. Production has declined about […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Early setbacks are expected, but low-carbon technologies like wave energy are part of the future, the British government said. UPI/Shutterstock/Ethan Daniels "Tidal power has the potential to contribute significantly to Britain’s energy security and provide clean energy and predictable clean energy, as part of a diverse mix," British Energy Secretary Ed Davey said at an investment conference in London. In September, the British government launched its so-called Paris 2015 document ahead of next year’s international climate summit in France, describing how acting now on cutting greenhouse gas emissions can help deter future climate disasters. The government said the document shows how it’s giving "a decisive political signal" that the future of energy is low-carbon. Government data show renewable energy’s share in electricity generation increased 7 percent year-on-year to 19.4 percent. The use of fossil fuels in general has declined, with coal’s share falling 3.7 percent to 37.1 percent. The […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

British government gets behind fledgling shale natural gas industry for the sake of energy security. UPI/Gary C. Caskey LONDON, Nov. 13 (UPI) — Putting full support behind the fledgling shale natural gas industry is the top priority for the British government, the British energy minister said Thursday. "Shale gas has great potential," British Energy Minister Matthew Hancock told delegates gathered for a regional energy conference. "It’s an opportunity we cannot afford to miss." A report this week from the University of Glasgow said existing regulations that mandate a halt to hydraulic fracturing operations if minor tremors are recorded are too stringent. The British government enacted restrictions in 2012 after minor tremors were recorded near a hydraulic fracturing site. University of Glasgow researchers said the measure kicks in for tremors on par with the seismic activity triggered by a passing truck. For Hancock, supporting the emerging shale industry in the […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

BP Plc (BP/) ’s quarterly profit beat estimates as underlying production increased and refining margins improved. Europe ’s third-largest oil producer said it would pay stockholders a higher dividend for the period. Net income adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes fell 19 percent to $3 billion in the third quarter from $3.7 billion a year earlier, the London-based company said today in a statement. That beat the $2.93 billion average of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. BP will pay a dividend of 10 cents a share, a 5.3 percent increase from a year earlier. “BP is steadfastly continuing on its road to recovery,” said Richard Hunter , head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management Ltd. in London . “BP has been able to generate strong cash flow partly through an improved downstream performance.” While the refining business helped BP beat estimates, the overall decline in profit […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

Economic cloud hanging over Moscow hurts BP’s bottom line for third quarter 2014. UPI/Alex Volgin BP reported its third quarter profits were off 63 percent. Revenues for the third quarter dropped more than 3 percent year-on-year to $94.8 billion. From its operations related to Russian oil company Rosneft, BP said net income for the quarter was $110 million compared with $808 million during the same period last year. "The depreciation of the ruble against the dollar over the period had a significant impact on the result," the company said in its quarterly statement. The Russian currency hit an all-time low last week, trading at 42 rubles to the dollar. Western sanctions on its energy sector imposed in response to crises in Ukraine, coupled with record-level inflation and low oil prices, have hit the Russian economy hard. In its statement for the second quarter , BP warned any "future erosion" […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Several UK-focused oil and gas companies reported Friday that an oil discovery of perhaps up to 20 million barrels has been made near London’s Gatwick Airport in southern England. The discovery – made by the Horse Hill-1 well located on the northern side of the Weald Basin near Gatwick Airport – was of an oil accumulation in the conventional Upper Jurassic Portland Sandstone at a top reservoir depth of 1,791 feet. Solo Oil, one of a number of companies involved in the Horse Hill consortium, said that a preliminary most likely estimate of 3.1 million barrels of gross in place hydrocarbon volume has been calculated within the upper Portland, with a further gross un-risked in place prospective hydrocarbon volume of 16.8 million barrels of oil in a separate lower sand in the Portland interval located in an untested fault block to the south. The well is being deepened to […]

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

British shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources waiting for decision from country council in drilling proposals. UPI/Gary C. Caskey PRESTON, England, Oct. 24 (UPI) — Planners in the British county of Lancashire said they needed more time to consider drilling plans from shale pioneer Cuadrilla Resources. Cuadrilla in June deposited 21 chapters of environmental studies with the Lancashire County Council associated with plans for up to four shale gas exploration wells. The council said initially it would make a determination by early November, but said they now needed more time to make a decision . "The council has now written to Cuadrilla asking for further time to receive, organize, assess, and present all the relevant information for the application to be determined by the committee," it said in a Thursday statement. Cuadrilla said there may be as much as 200 trillion cubic feet of shale natural gas in the Bowland basin […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

BP, GDF Suez declare significant oil find in British waters of the North Sea. (UPI/Shutterstock/James Jones Jr.) GDF Suez and British counterpart BP said Thursday they made a significant new oil discovery in the central waters of the North Sea. "As BP marks its 50th year in the North Sea and as the industry looks to maximize economic recovery from the basin, increasing exploration activity and finding new ways to collaborate will be critical to realizing remaining potential," Trevor Garlick, BP’s regional president, said in a statement. "This discovery is a great example of both." The discovery, which straddles two license areas operated separately by the companies, tested at an initial flow rate of 5,350 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Garlick said the discovery shows how more oil can come from North Sea basins if regional players join forces to capitalize on what he said was a considerable […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

BP will restart the Rhum gas field in the UK North Sea, half-owned by Iran’s National Oil Company, four years after the field was shut down due to Western sanctions, a BP spokesman said on Friday. Production from the field, which supplied 4 percent to 5 percent of Britain’s demand before its shutdown, is expected to begin this weekend. BP received approval from the British government to resume production after the government put the field under a temporary management scheme whereby all revenue due to Tehran will be held until sanctions are lifted, the spokesman said. The field started pumping gas in December 2005 and cost 350 million pounds ($565.6 million) to build. The British government gave the green light for the resumption late last year in order to avoid damage to the high pressure, high temperature gas field.

Click here to view full article at peakoil.com

Major investments needed to keep British offshore sector alive, industry group says UPI/A.J. Sisco.. LONDON, Sept. 30 (UPI) — British offshore oil and natural gas reserves will stop providing a return on investments if costs continue to rise, an industry report said Tuesday. Oil and Gas U.K., the British industry body, published its annual report Tuesday showing there may be as much as 24 billion barrels of oil equivalent left offshore, but it may require more than $1.6 trillion in investments to exploit. It warned that operating costs on the British continental shelf were 60 percent higher than they were in 2011. "If the current trend of rising cost continues, the British continental shelf will cease to provide a healthy return on investment and we’ll feel the brunt through falling levels of activity" Oil and Gas U.K. Chief Executive Officer Malcomb Webb said in a statement. The British economy […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

BP Plc (BP/) , which has paid more than $28 billion for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, asked a Texas court to let it tap into $750 million in Transocean Ltd. (RIG) ’s insurance policies on the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig. BP filed claims with Transocean’s carriers in 2010, seeking to tap a $50 million primary policy issued by Ranger Insurance and $700 million in excess coverage from Lloyd’s of London and other underwriters. The carriers asked the court overseeing the spill litigation to rule that BP wasn’t entitled to unlimited access to Transocean’s insurance. BP lost its battle for coverage at a lower court, won reversal on appeal, then saw that victory erased last year as the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans withdrew its original opinion. The panel sent the case to the Texas Supreme Court , which held oral arguments today in Austin, […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

LONDON, Sept. 11 (UPI) — A shale pioneer in the United Kingdom said Thursday it was disappointed, but not surprised, by the rejection of its oil and gas exploration bid. Celtique Energie said its application to explore shale oil and natural gas reserves in the South Downs National Park in southern England was rejected. "We are disappointed by today’s decision by the South Downs National Park Authority," Geoff Davies, Chief Executive Officer of Celtique Energie, said in a statement. "However, we are not surprised, given the authority’s public stance regarding oil and gas exploration in National Parks, both in Sussex and elsewhere." The company said it believed the untapped oil and natural gas reserves thought to be present in the area would be nationally significant . The British government has endorsed shale reserves as part of a diverse energy mix. Shale campaigns in the country are in their infancy, […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Production has resumed at Britain’s North Sea Buzzard oilfield, the field’s operator said in a statement on Tuesday, the latest phase of the stuttering return of one of the key streams underpinning Brent oil futures. "Production has resumed following a brief outage yesterday night, Monday 8 September, and ramp-up will continue over the coming days," Calgary-based Nexen said. Nexen was bought by China’s CNOOC last year. Since returning from summer maintenance in late August the 200,000 barrel-per-day field has gone through a number of shutdowns and restarts. Buzzard is closely watched by oil traders worldwide as it is the biggest contributor to the Forties oil stream, the largest of the four benchmark crudes that are the physical supply behind international benchmark Brent crude oil futures. (Reporting by David Sheppard and Claire Milhench; editing by Keiron Henderson) WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Click here to view full article at www.rigzone.com

BP Plc (BP/) got support from the U.K. government in its U.S. court fight over the level of compensation required under a settlement of lawsuits stemming from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The U.K. told U.S. Supreme Court judges in a filing that decisions to authorize payments to people who were not injured by the spill raises “grave international comity concerns by undermining confidence in the vigorous and fair resolution of disputes.” The filing shows the government’s interest in the treatment of one of the country’s most prominent companies. BP, the second-largest British oil producer, is seeking a ruling from the U.S.’s top court after failing to persuade a Louisiana district judge and an appeals court to limit payments under a 2012 settlement to compensate victims of the spill. BP says payments are unfairly being to made to claimants whose businesses couldn’t have been affected by the […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

PASCAGOULA, MS – JULY 1: Oil cleanup workers pick up oily globs as they remove residue washing ashore from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on July 1, 2010 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Millions of gallons of oil have spilled into the Gulf since the April 20 explosion on the drilling platform. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Britain has for the first time waded in to BP ’s legal battle over payouts for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, saying US court rulings against the energy group raise “grave international comity concerns”. In a filing to the US Supreme Court, the UK government said BP had “gone to great lengths to restore the gulf coast”, but was being forced to pay large sums to individuals and businesses who were not affected by the spill. More On this topic IN Oil & Gas It warned that the […]

Click here to view full article at www.ft.com

North Sea Oil and Scottish Independence: where does the truth lie? How much oil and gas is left in the North Sea? 16 billion barrels oil equivalent (boe) according to Sir Ian Wood or 24 billion boe according to Oil and Gas UK? The correct answer for official proved+probable reserves is between 8 and 9 billion boe, a figure that both DECC and Oil and Gas UK agree on. With over 9 different classes of reserves, this debate is sterile and this is not the correct question to ask. How wealthy will oil make Scotland? In 2013, the direct tax take from oil and gas production for the whole of the UK was £4.67 billion and falling. This compares with annual spending of the Scottish government (plus UK spending on Scotland) running at £65.2 billion. Hence, direct taxation of oil and gas production may account for less than 7% of the Scottish […]

Click here to view full article at peakoil.com

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland. Scottish nationalist leader Alex Salmond said U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron is right to be nervous ahead of this month’s independence referendumm, as support grows for the Yes campaign. With little more than two weeks before the Sept. 18 ballot and postal voting already under way, Salmond told Sky News in an interview yesterday that the pro-independence campaign is gaining momentum and “a huge number of Labour voters are supporting Yes.” “The Yes support is rising in this campaign,” Salmond said. “We’re still the underdogs, we’ve still got a distance to travel, but if we’re making the prime minister nervous, I suspect we’re doing something right.” Polls have narrowed since Salmond’s performance on Aug. 25 in the second televised debate against Alistair Darling , the former chancellor of the exchequer who heads the anti-independence Better Together campaign. While support for […]

Click here to view full article at www.bloomberg.com

A court in Manchester passed an interim measure preventing trespassing on land secured by the company for shale natural gas exploration. Francis Egan, the company’s chief executive officer, said the injunction was a victory in its controversial campaign in the country. "We hope the court’s ruling will help deter this kind of unlawful behavior in the future," he said in a statement Thursday. Cuadrilla last year witnessed rowdy demonstrations in the southern British village of Balcombe. The company’s exploratory drilling program led demonstrators to believe hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, would be next for the site. Local police last year said they were frustrated with "the criminal activities" of some of the protest groups. The British government says shale resources could ensure energy security for a country where imports will account for more than half of the country’s demands in the coming decades. Advocacy groups have expressed concern that some […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s oil industry is facing the threat of a cascade of North Sea rig closures, unless ageing platforms can urgently source more gas to help squeeze out the remaining barrels. The potential threat to oil revenues looms as Scotland prepares to vote in September’s independence referendum — a debate in which oil production forecasts have become a political football. The affected Northern North Sea (NNS) is a very mature part of the basin where producers are trapped in a vicious circleukbu of falling output, rising costs to patch up ageing platforms, and dwindling power supplies. To lift more oil from these depleted reservoirs, producers need to inject vast quantities of water — a power intensive process that requires a reliable source of energy, known as fuel gas. Some platforms are not able to generate enough of their own fuel so have to try and import the […]

Click here to view full article at uk.reuters.com

UK gas demand so far in August has been around 19% higher than last year despite a much slower rate of storage injections this month, as demand from other sectors has risen, a Platts analysis of National Grid figures showed Friday. UK gas demand so far this month has averaged around 159 million cubic meters/day — up from around 133 million cu m/d during the same period last year — as higher gas burn and exports, stronger local distribution zone (household) demand and a boost in demand from industrial units all contributed to the demand hike. This has continued the recent trend of UK gas demand being higher than in 2013, after June demand was higher than a year earlier. UK gas demand averaged 176 million cu m/d in June against the June 2013 average of 160 million cu m/d. This also confirmed the recent bucking of the trend […]

Click here to view full article at www.platts.com

Scottish oil and gas Among N-56’s recommendations is that a more competitive tax regime is established for the North Sea. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA Forecasts of future revenues from North Sea oil and gas by an economics watchdog have been described as "incredibly pessimistic" and could be six times lower than the actual levels, according to a report. The Scottish and UK governments have repeatedly clashed over the future of the industry, particularly around forecasts from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility on the amount of cash it expects to be raised from the North Sea. The Scottish government argues the OBR forecasts are based on a "very low estimate of future total production", while its own figures have been criticised by opponents who claim they are overly optimistic. In July, the OBR chairman, Robert Chote, revealed the body was now forecasting that revenues of £61.6bn would be raised between […]

Click here to view full article at www.theguardian.com

Scottish oil and gas Among N-56’s recommendations is that a more competitive tax regime is established for the North Sea. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/PA Forecasts of future revenues from North Sea oil and gas by an economics watchdog have been described as "incredibly pessimistic" and could be six times lower than the actual levels, according to a report. The Scottish and UK governments have repeatedly clashed over the future of the industry, particularly around forecasts from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility on the amount of cash it expects to be raised from the North Sea. The Scottish government argues the OBR forecasts are based on a "very low estimate of future total production", while its own figures have been criticised by opponents who claim they are overly optimistic. In July, the OBR chairman, Robert Chote, revealed the body was now forecasting that revenues of £61.6bn would be raised between […]

Click here to view full article at www.theguardian.com

Greenpeace said a British survey showing public support for hydraulic fracturing is biased because the industry itself was behind the assessment. Research group Populus conducted a survey for U.K. Onshore Oil and Gas that found more than half of the 4,000 people it surveyed expressed support for hydraulic fracturing in the country, compared with 27 percent expressing no opinion and 16 percent opposed. A spokesman for Greenpeace said the poll was biased because it was backed by the oil and gas industry. "This is just more smoke and mirrors to hide the obvious fact that fracking remains a highly controversial industry, far less popular than clean and safe alternatives like wind and solar," the spokesman said . The government in July announced it was opening up the bidding process for shale deposits in the country. The British Geological Survey estimates the country has enough shale on hand to meet […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

British shale gas pioneer Cuadrilla Resources said Wednesday it’s confident it can kick-start a new industry in the country in a safe manner. Cuadrilla in June deposited 21 chapters of environmental studies with the Lancashire County Council associated with plans for up to four shale gas exploration wells in the area. The company produced an 8-minute video with environmental consultant group Arup outlining the information in the documents. Cuadrilla Resources Chief Executive Officer Francis Egan said the industry would start off on the right foot. "We know shale gas exploration can be done safely, securely and in an environmental responsible way, and we will do that," he said in a statement . Protests against Cuadrilla’s early shale efforts in the village of Balcombe last year became unruly. Last week, officials in the area balked on a separate drilling application. Less than a week later, the British […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com

Royal Dutch Shell PLC said second-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year earlier as the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas group benefited from higher production of liquid petroleum and higher prices for certain products. Shell said Thursday that profit for the period came in at $5.15 billion on a current cost-of-supplies basis—a measure similar to profit reported by U.S. oil companies—compared with $2.39 billion in the same period last year. Excluding one-time items, current-cost-of-supplies profit was $6.13 billion, up 33% from $4.60 billion last year. Second-quarter sales were $115.27 billion, up slightly from $114.35 billion a year earlier. "Our financial performance for the second quarter of 2014 was more robust than year-ago levels but I want to see stronger, more competitive results right across […]

Click here to view full article at online.wsj.com

A British advocacy group said Wednesday it applauded a decision from a city council at the heart of the country’s shale debate to reject a drilling permit. The West Sussex County Council said it refused an application by Celtique Energy for a three-year oil and gas exploration bid. A drilling site in Balcombe, in West Sussex county, was the target of major protests last year by activists concerned over the drilling operations of Cuadrilla Resources. Demonstrators said the campaign was a prelude to a hydraulic fracturing operation, though the process known also as fracking was not conducted at the site. Brenda Pollack, a campaigner with the British Friends of the Earth, said the latest West Sussex decision was a step in the right direction. "Nobody wants to see Sussex ruined by industrial drilling for dirty fossil fuels," she said in a statement . "If Celtique had […]

Click here to view full article at www.upi.com